Leo the Great

Pope Leo the Great of Rome.

St. Leo the Great was Pope of Rome in the fifth century, one of the great fathers of the undivided Church. His celebrated Tome, read at the Fourth Ecumenical Council at Chalcedon in 451, confessed with clarity that Christ is one Person in two natures, true God and true man, and the fathers of the council received it as the voice of Peter.

He shepherded Rome through perilous times, and tradition tells that he turned Attila the Hun away from the city. He reposed in peace and is commemorated on February 18.

Feast day

On the New Calendar, Leo the Great is commemorated on February 18. Churches on the Old (Julian) Calendar keep the feast on March 3 (a day earlier in leap years) of the civil calendar.

Who celebrates a name day

People with these names keep their name day on this feast:

Leon, Leo, Leonidas, Nidas

Also commemorated on February 18

• Leo and Paregorios of Patara

  Martyr, Λέων και Παρηγόριος

  Holy Martyrs Leo and Paregorios of Patara in Lycia.

• Agapitos of Synnada

  Hierarch, Αγαπητός Συνάου

  St. Agapitos the Confessor and Wonderworker, Bishop of Synnada in Phrygia.

  Name days: Agapitos

• Agrippas, Victorinos, Dorotheos and Theodoulos

  Martyr, Αγρίππας, Βικτωρίνος, Δωρόθεος και Θεόδουλος

  Holy Martyrs Agrippas, Victorinos, Dorotheos and Theodoulos.

• Cosmas of Yakhrom

  Venerable, Κοσμάς του Γιαχρόμ

  Venerable Cosmas of Yakhrom, founder of the Dormition Monastery.

Icon: public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.